Dra Fumnt
by Riku-the-true-master
Summary: You wake up to a normal life every day. Same parrents, same school, same world. But what if one day your life was changed by a seemingly 'normal' rp game. Well thats what happened to 7 teenagers. (KH, Final Fantasy, Everquest, and .hack sign crossover)
1. Just another boring day right? WRONGO!

"Man, no good games," said 15-year-old Amanda Cyr as she walked down the computer games isle for about the 7th time. It was the last two weeks of summer vacation and she needed a new game to start and win. She was about to leave when something gold caught her eye. The box read ' The World" in bold print. "That game was just released today," said someone behind her. Amanda pulled her eyes away from the box and saw the manager. She hadn't realized someone else was there, let alone she had been staring at the game for several minutes. Something was telling her, no making her buy it. "How much is it," said Amanda, still entranced by the game. " $60.00, but I'll let you have it for $30.00," the man replied with an edge. Did he know something she didn't? Slowly she picked it up and realized there was nothing else written on the box, just the title. Then she realized her box was gold while the others were silver. This game had her baffled, why had she never heard of it before? Quickly she paid and left.  
As she left the store she looked at the small world in which she lives in. It was a tiny island, called Straeh Modgnik, mostly covered in sand; there were few shops and only a couple of dirt roads. There were only 30 people that lived there and nobody visited. Halfway down the dirt path she hears a familiar voice, "Beware of what awaits ye." She looked around but no one was there.  
Later, when she arrived home, her parents were still out at her grandparent's house and her younger brother was out with his girlfriend and buds, like always. But she enjoyed having the house to herself; it was about the only time she got privacy.  
After setting the bag in her room she tried calling her best friend Nina Montalto again. Busy. It had been that way all day. Nina was a quiet girl of 14, who enjoyed the simple things and like the small island and spent little time outside. They had little in common, Amanda was always out exploring, and was curious about the other worlds and lands out there; and quite frankly was always trying to get away from the island. Not that she didn't like the island; she just was trying to find an adventure. Nina didn't want anything to do with her escapes but they were still close friends and a dynamic duo. Nina the brains, Amanda the bronze. She sighed deeply and went back to her room.  
Several times she had tried sailing away from the island, or stowing away in a cargo ship to the other worlds. But a girl named Megan Ashley, who had always hated her, foiled her every attempt. Ever since Amanda refused to be part of her stuck up cheerleading snots, Megan has ruined every opportunity to practically everything. But still Megan wasn't satisfied, because Amanda had been able to beat her at pretty much everything. Except geography, everyone can beat Amanda at that In the bag lay the entrancing game. Strange, the only things in the box were a plain disk and a set of goggles you couldn't see through. When the computer had booted up she stuck the disk in and slid the slot shut. Suddenly the screen went pitch black and blood red letters rolled across the screen. "Are you ready?" they read. She wondered what that could mean. "Put on the goggles," it then said. 'What's that supposed to mean?' thought Amanda, as she put them on. Without warning she disappeared and plunged into darkness. "Where am I?" Amanda said as she fell. It felt as if she was really falling. Was she? She looked at herself and realized that when she started falling she had changed clothes. Now she was wearing blue and white tennis shoes, blue cargo pants and a skintight yellow sleeveless shirt with black a black back. Also she had on black leather gloves, black wristbands, and black crossed shoulder straps. The other strange thing was that her hair had turned silver-blue. "Welcome to The World, Light Spirit," said a distant, yet distinct voice. "Choose your username and password," it then said. Before she could even think about them they popped into her head, "Username Neokogine, password Light Spirit" She had no idea where she got the name Neokogine but it something was telling her to say that. "Very well, you are one of the 7 chosen spirit users. Your weapon is the light sword," the voice echoed from all areas of the darkness. Out of nowhere a sword fell and she caught it. This sword had some distinct power that she couldn't put her finger on it shined a bright light when she grabbed it. She looked at her reflection in the sword and noticed she had the sign of light on her face. Two blue triangles on each cheek, her shoulder length silver hair blew violently in the icy air as she continued to fall. "Your path has been chosen, venture forward and find the other spirits. Thought you think your heart to be strong, you can easily be overcome. Yet only you can defeat the heartless," the voice said. With that she fell even faster. A blinding light filled the area as she suddenly stopped falling she seemed to be outside, 'where am I?' she thought to herself. Everything felt and smelt so real. When she looked up she saw that she was in an apple tree. "Excuse me," said a familiar voice from the ground. Neokogine looked down and saw a girl about her age, wearing a purple skirt, white spaghetti strap shirt with black lining, purple shoulder band, and yellow wristbands. In her hand she had some sort of staff with a cloud on the top. "By any chance, do you know where I might be able to find Amanda Cyr?" Neokogine, being always stubborn decided, to have some fun. "Hmmmmmmm, Amanda Cyr, is that her username or real name?" The girl said "Real," quietly. "Who's looking for her?" Neokogine edged on. "That is for her to know only," the girl replied. Neokogine got fed up and jumped down from the tree landing beside the girl and crossed her arms, "Well I should know, considering I am Amanda Cyr, call me Neokogine." The girl got embarrassed and said "Sorry. Oh by the way I am Mingna, formerly known as Nina Montalto." It was Nina. "What are you doing here?" Neokogine asked curiously, the Nina she knew hated games. "Well I was in the store today and I was drawn to this game. I knew you liked new games so I figured you would be here somewhere," Mingna replied happily. Neokogine felt very relived knowing her friend was there with her. "That was one weird login, huh?" Neokogine broke the silence. Mingna giggled. "Yeah, wind spirit, can you believe they called everyone that?" It was then that Neokogine noticed something strange. "Mine said light spirit. Then it mentioned 6 other selected people were given different spirits." Mingna looked at her. "Mine too," she said plainly. They looked at each other. "You mean us and 5 other people were selected, at random, to do something big, we don't even know about yet?" Neokogine said, a little flattered. Mingna nodded a bit. "And what was with that whole, 'your heart isn't as strong as you think, and how easily you can be overcome,' talk?" Neokogine said leaning back in the tall grass. Mingna looked at her strangely, "What are you talking about?" Neokogine sat up, "You know, after that whole boring login talk and getting your weapon. It said that and said something about me being the only one to defeat the heartless." She saw the puzzled look on Mingna's face and realized she really didn't have a clue about that part, "Just forget it," Neokogine said sighing a bit, much more confused than before. Something caught her eye, the mark on Mingna's face. It was the sign of wind. On Neokogine's face was the sign of light. Quickly she explained to Mingna. "All we have to do is look for the sign of their spirit on people's faces, how hard could it be?" Mingna burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Neokogine asked a little upset. Finally Mingna stopped laughing, "Over 720,000 people have joined since noon! Still think it will be easy?" She laughed even harder when Neokogine's jaw dropped, "Something tells me this game is going to make a lot of money." Neokogine dropped down beside Mingna to think. How were they supposed to find 5 people out of 720,000? "Well we should head to the closest town. Uh? Exactly where is the closest town?" Neokogine said clueless. She knew absolutely nothing about geography. Mingna was glad to help. "I've heard of a place called Nevranda really far from here. But it's the closest place," Mingna said with a little regret. Neokogine smiled. "Exactly how far?" asked Neokogine. She and Nina had two different prospective on distance. Mingna groaned and said "About 7 miles." Neokogine laughed. "That's not far at all." She stood up. " Which way is the town." Neokogine could tell that Mingna didn't want to go but would always follow her. Mingna pulled a map out of her pocket and pointed to a small dot in the north, "That's where we need to go," she said. "Let's stock up on food before we leave," Neokogine said pointing to the apple tree she had landed in. They each carried two apples. "All right, we should be able to get about ¾ there if we don't stop till night fall," Neokogine said with a quick estimate, looking in the direction of the town.  
  
Mingna cocked her head and said, "You've done this before haven't you." Neokogine grinned, "Yeah, spend your entire life in a place like Straeh Modgnik and you get use to it." All of a sudden Neokogine said, "Oh crud." "What's wrong," Mingna quickly said. "My parents are probably home by now. Listen, stay here and I'll be right back. Man how do you save your game?" asked Neokogine desperately. From the sky a voice said, "Game save activated. Neokogine's progress has been saved." Neokogine then disappeared. Amanda was suddenly back in her room and in her own clothes. She pulled off the goggles and left the room. Nobody was home, what a relief. Halfway back to her room she saw there were 3 messages on the answering machine. Message one was from her parents. "Hi, honey its mom. There is a horrible storm going on here at nana and papa's house. We're having major car trouble so we'll be staying here for a couple of days. Take car of your brother. And be sure to take a shower. Love ya!" Message two was from her annoying little brother. "Hey, Mindy. I'm going to be staying over at Tyler's house tonight. Bye!" Short and to the point, the way Amanda liked it. Final message, "Beware of what awaits ye." It was the same voice she heard when she had left the store. 'Who is it, and why does it sound so familiar?' Amanda thought to herself, as she quickly deleted the messages. Amanda looked outside. It was starting to rain, and hard. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning danced across the sky. She enjoyed storms, though everyone else on the island was terrified of them, to her they were somewhat calming. Since she had the house to herself she decided to go back to The World. Once again she picked up the goggles and logged in. It was much easier than the first time. Neokogine was right where she had saved. It was actually raining in the game and she was really getting soaked with real water. Thunder and lightning clashed and Mingna was standing under the apple tree, whimpering a little. "You actually stayed here?" Neokogine said surprised. "Yeah, I said I would stay. Plus I wouldn't get far without you. So should we wait out the storm?" Mingna said all at once, now seeming quiet frantic. "Your nervous, aren't you," Neokogine said, not too surprised, back in the real world she always had to do the dangerous stuff because Mingna wasn't brave enough to. "Well duh! I mean everything seems so real! What should we do?! How are we going to find these people?! What are we supposed to do when we finally find them?! There is just too much pressure! I may as well just quit this stupid--" Neokogine cut her off " Mingna you are not a quitter. You and I are chosen ones. I am going through the same problems as you are. But I don't intend to quit now or ever." She took a deep sigh. "Lets just stop fighting and start walking." Her talk got through to Mingna, "I'm really sorry Neokogine. I'm just not use to what you are. I mean, you've been going after adventures your whole life, and I'm trying to avoid any. Let's face it, the only adventures I've been on that aren't books are the ones you forced me to try." Neokogine smirked, this was incredibly true. "And you aren't afraid of anything. Me? Anything that moves makes me jump," Mingna added. Neokogine crossed her arms, "That's not true, I'm scared of bugs. and report cards." They laughed a little and had almost completely forgotten their earlier argument. After picking up the apples they started walking in the towns direction. Neokogine told Mingna about how she could stay here all night because her parents and brother were out. She didn't mention the third message; Mingna would probably freak out. She could also stay all night because her parents had gone to visit her aunt Cilia that lived across the sea, which she hated. Neokogine was longing to get away from her real home, she had been born and raised on Straeh Modgink. Nothing ever happened there and Neokogine was the kind of person that lived on adventure. She sighed and looked at the ground, "At least you had the chance to get out of here." Neokogine had never seen any other world and had tried to escape several times in a raft, but that goodie-goodie girl, Megan Ashley, always caught her and turned her in. How she hated that girl can never be expressed. Mingna looked over at her realizing how much Neokogine really did want to get away. She had recently moved to the island and enjoyed its simplicity. But when she became friends with Amanda there was hardly a day that they didn't go on adventures, sometimes they wound up grounded because Megan told on them. Yet most of the time they made it out with a clean slate. "Hey, I just noticed something," Neokogine said, trying to start a not so depressing conversation. Mingna looked at her as if saying 'what is it?' "When I was in the real world it was raining at this pace. The weather is changing with the real weather. That means that as long as it is raining here I can stay here," she said with a slight smirk. A half an hour later it was raining really hard, so hard that the drop felt like rocks, and the wind was practically pushing them back the way they came. "How can a game actually feel real?" Mingna said through gritted teeth as water streamed down her face, though it was hard to tell if just rain or tears. She went on. "Can we stop now, please Neokogine?" Neokogine shot her a glance, and then strained her eyes to see through the storm, not bothering to reply. She didn't really want to stop; she wanted to get to the town as quickly as possible. But as they continued on the storm grew worse, till finally you could barely see, let alone hear what the other person was saying. "We'll stop there and till this storm passes," shouted Neokogine pointing toward a dense forest. At that Mingna burst out running in that direction, eager to get out of the rain. Neokogine laughed and ran after her. Their race ended with Neokogine beating Mingna by several feet. The forest kept them dry but they were still freezing. 


	2. The Flame Within

(Here's chapter 2, I hope you guys like this story and please review. BTW I DO NOT own Kingdom Hearts, Everquest, .hack sign, or any other games I might mix in. I'll have more up soon^^)  
  
They sat huddled close together to try and keep warm. It didn't help much. Wheresklosh. "What was that?" Mingna asked. "How should I know, I cant see the nose in front of my face." Neokogine snapped. "Wait a minute," Neokogine said as a thought crossed her mind. Quickly she stood up and shoved her light sword into the air then made a few slices in the air, which would have formed an x. Her sword lit up and gave them plenty of light. "How did you do that?" Mingna asked amazed. "I'm not sure. It was just an instinct," Neokogine said looking at her now bright sword. "What's that," Mingna asked motioning toward a distinct path of chopped down trees. "Not sure, but lets find out," Neokogine said as she walked down the path. "Stay close, it could be dangerous," she added, wielding the lighten sword. "Hey, there's a light up ahead," Mingna said with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. "I see it. Don't worry," hissed Neokogine, she wasn't nervous at all, just curious beyond belief. It was getting warmer the closer they got to the light, and they saw that it was a small roaring fire. The two were so close to the person they could hear him snoring. "Oh my god, its Patrick Willis," Mingna said excitedly as they walked closer. She had a huge crush on this 14 year-old, over hair gelled jock boy that hated Neokogine. He was wearing a red t-shirt with a black short-sleeve jacket, red baggy shorts, white gloves, a chain hanging from his belt and yellow shoes. His brown short brown hair was slightly matted and he looked almost the same way he did in the real world. His eyes fluttered open and he sprung up. Quickly he grabbed the fire, which was really his flame sword. "Who are you," he said sleepily. Bellow his eyes he had the symbol of fire. "Um, hello. I'm Nina, remember? From school. Oh and this is Amanda. Now I'm Mingna, and she's Neokogine," Mingna said sounding like she had always wanted to say it. He yawned. "Okay, the names Garnox, goodnight." With that he fell to the ground and went back to sleep. "He is so cute," Mingna said with no cares. Neokogine was laughing in her head; she had never been in love and quite frankly didn't care what she was missing. If it made girls act like that she wanted no part of it. Mingna drifted off to sleep, but Neokogine stayed up and stared into the fire. There would be many challenges ahead. Some easier than others, some harder. Could they make it through all of them? Whatever happened she knew Mingna would keep them together, Garnox and Neokogine hated each other and if given the opportunity, Neokogine would tear him apart. These thoughts drifted her to sleep. The next day Neokogine was the first one up. One thing Garnox and Mingna have in common; they both are extremely deep sleepers. But at least Mingna didn't snore. Neokogine was glad they had brought apples; apparently you can get hungry in this game too. The rain thudded even harder and when it hit the tree leafs it made a raspy splattering sound. It would be best to explore the forest further; she knew there would be no objections to that. After eating half an apple she got up and lit her sword. Strange, the sword seemed to shine even brighter when she was closer to Garnox and Mingna. Wheresklosh. There was that sound again. Neokogine followed the sound to the edge of the forest, and just as sudden as it started the sound stopped. 'Probably just my imagination,' she thought to herself putting her sword on her shoulder. But the sound, like everything in this world, seemed so real. "Is any of this for real?" she constantly asked herself that. When she got back to the others they were still asleep. Now Neokogine was mad, she knew that Mingna knew they had to keep walking. She tried waking her up but the distant voice said, "Mingna is currently logged out." Great. Had Mingna decided to quit?! She was furious. Quickly she saved and logged out, swearing under her breath the whole time. Amanda grabbed the phone and punched in Nina's phone number. Now her line was free. "Hello," Nina said sleepily. "Why did you quit?" Amanda shouted waking her up. She could tell Amanda was mad and explained, "I didn't quit, and I just logged out to get my breakfast." How embarrassing, "I'm so sorry. Why didn't you try the apples?" "You can't eat food in a game. can you?" Nina asked. "Apparently in this one you can. Come on lets go back to the world. Its still raining here so my parents wont be back for a while." Amanda concluded, hanging up the phone and returning to the 'game.' Neokogine was back online, and Mingna shortly followed. "You wake up Garnox and I'll put out the fire," Neokogine said as she stomped out the fire's embers. "I'm already up," Garnox said with a big yawn. "Took you long enough," Neokogine said crossing her arms and leaning against a nearby tree. He scowled at her, but this was just part of their daily routine, annoy each other beyond belief. While Mingna explained to Garnox where they were going and what to look for, Neokogine estimated they should be at Nevranda by noon. "I don't mind working with you," he said politely to Mingna. Then he shot a glance at Neokogine, "Its her that I have a problem with." At least he had no objections to the distance. He later told them this was where he first started, but since it was raining he just stayed here. They proceeded through the forest silently with only Garnox's celebrity imitations to keep them amused. Once they reached the end of the forest the rain had let up a little and the sun was peaking over a mountain in the distance. He jumped up and cut off a large tree branch, then he held it up and it sheltered them from the rain. Mingna looked at him and smiled mysteriously. She had a very strange way of showing a guy she liked him. Why didn't she just tell him she loved him and worshiped the ground he stepped on? Neokogine had never been in love so she didn't know exactly how hard it could be. Finally the rain had stopped, and the sun beat down upon the land. Neokogine would have to leave soon because her parents would be back. "All we have to do is follow the make it over the mountain," she said, sounding a little pleased at their progress. "That's all," Garnox said sarcastically with an edge as he tossed the branch down. Lets just say a mountain looks a lot smaller from a distance, because once they got to it the peak went through the clouds, and there was no way around because this was a mountain range. Neokogine grinned and said, "Lets get started. Race ya!" She quickly jumped to the nearest ledge and then to the next. The others followed but not nearly as quickly. Neokogine saw them struggling to keep up and how quickly they were getting tired, and decided they should rest at the peak. Neokogine was the first to make it to the top and stood there, looking in the town's direction with her arms crossed. Once Garnox made it to the top, he dropped down beside Neokogine and looked up at her. "You're a lot different in school," he said, trying to say something that wouldn't sound too stupid. Neokogine was use to people saying that and replied without looking at him, "You've never seen me outside of school." Apparently Garnox found this a little offensive because he jerked his attention away from her and started flicking ants off the mountain. Mingna pulled herself to the top with the others and sat between Garnox and Neokogine, mainly to keep them from fighting again. "How much further?" she asked, sounding a little out of breath. Neokogine strained her eyes into the distance, "Its that little dot way over there." She said, pointing to a large gate in the distance. She waited till Mingna caught her breath then jumped down to a ledge and started down the other half of the mountain, motioning for the others to follow. Now the sun was directly above them signaling it was around noon. "Cool, the time of day changes too! This game was in key with the real world," Garnox said looking up at the sun. Neokogine shook her head a little thinking, 'it took him this long to figure that out?' Neokogine was the first down the mountain and started running towards the town gates, halfway there the ground shook rapidly. She braced her legs to keep from falling but Garnox fell backwards and Mingna fell on top of him, thought Neokogine couldn't tell if it was an accident or not. A large dinosaur like creature appeared, and Neokogine learned something from this monster's entry. Garnox can scream like a sissy girl. They had made it this far and Neokogine was not going to let this over- grown lizard stand in their way. She gripped her sword tightly and speed ahead. The dinosaur roared loudly and swung its claws at her. With a smirk Neokogine jumped high into the air, dodging all the monster's blows. As she fell back to the ground she gave the dinosaur a quick, yet critical, slash. When she landed upright on the ground, still smirking, the dinosaur let out a howl of pain, as she had sliced him in two. It fell over and both halves disappeared into data particles. As for Mingna and Garnox, they at there sort of dumbfound, watching the remains of the dinosaur disappear. "Well, lets keep moving, were almost there," Neokogine said as she swung her sword over her shoulder and started walking in the town's direction. To her it was if nothing had happened, to her that was just an everyday adventure. Garnox helped Mingna to her feet, and she blushed slightly. She and Garnox exchanged a look and followed after Neokogine. They approached the gate and the quiet was almost nerve racking. 'Nevranda, to where law keepers be and spirits flee' was written across the gate in bold lettering, before they could get to the town they had to get through the gate. "Spirits flee? What does that mean?" Mingna asked quietly. "Who goes there?" shouted a knee-high lizard guarding the entrance. Neokogine was tired of people asking questions and blurted out, "Why do you want to know scaly boy?" The lizard clearly did not want to be guarding the gate. "Take it easy sister, the azul guards told me to come out here and look for some spirit kids he wants their spirits. Ya'll seen any?" Uh oh apparently, some freaks called the azul guards, had a grudge on the three. There had to be others who wanted their spirits. Mingna was great in drama, and faking things, so she said, "Spirits? We don't even have school spirit. I am Chihiro, this is my best friend Riku," she said putting a hand on Neokogine's shoulder. Neokogine shot her a glance, but she had always acted like a boy so she guessed she deserved that. Then Mingna hugged Garnox and said, "And this is my boyfriend, Irvine." Neokogine could see Garnox embarrassed but he had to play along. The lizard checked the names on a small computer and the gate began to glow a deep green the lizard sneered slightly then said, "Go on in." The three exchanged a look as the gates opened revealing a huge town filled with floating black ghouls. As soon as they stepped through the gate, just as they stepped through a high-pitched whistle was heard, and the ghouls turned to face them "Split up," Neokogine said quickly, as she turned and ran down an alley. Mingna ran behind some shops while Garnox looked after Neokogine. 'Who made her leader,' he thought to himself as he jumped down into an open sewer. 


	3. guards, guards, and more guards

(A/N: sorry for the lack of updates. I'm suffering from a severe case of writers block -.- *shrug* oh well, here it is. Hope you like it and PLEASE review!!!)  
  
The lizard looked into the town but the three were already out of sight, he grit his teeth a bit then sneered wildly. He pulled a small phone out of his pocket and punched in a few numbers, "We've got them, guards assemble," he said quietly. With that several strong looking guards stepped out of the 5 feet thick stone gate, all wearing a sneer. The lizard shouted a few commands in a strange language then traced a symbol in the air with his finger. All the guards grunted, showing they understood.  
  
With that the lizard took a pouch out of his pocket and out of it pulled a handful off crimson colored powder. He sneered as he threw it into one of the torches nearby and the flame changed crimson as well then burst into the air, sending a combination of red and purple mist over the town. The mist covered the town like a blanket and slowly all the ghouls disappeared into the ground, snickering like mad. When they all were gone a death like silence covered the town with the still swirling mist, with only the sounds of the spirit users footsteps echoing as they hurried over the cobblestones. After letting out another battle cry, the guards split up, several running in each of the spirits directions.  
  
~*~  
  
Neokogine had stopped further down the alley, figuring they were safe by now. She was trying to think of where the others could have gone when ears perked at the nerve splitting silence, but she quickly snapped back to reality at the battle cry. The guards saw her and started down the alley after her, but she was far ahead of them. She smirked quickly then turned and ran down the alley, still the guards kept after her.  
  
~*~  
  
Garnox had stopped in the shadows of the sewers, looking at the open sewer drain thinking, 'Crap I should have-' but his thought was interrupted when several guards jumped down the hole and glared sharply. He backed further into the shadows, knowing they wouldn't be able to see him there. The guards stumbled around in the darkness, running into wall, stepping in sewage waste, and hitting their heads on low pipes. It took all his strength to keep from laughing. Just as the guards were beginning to leave something very strange happened. Suddenly the mark on his face began to glow the color of magma, yet when he touched it felt as if nothing was there. Quickly the guards looked over in the shadows and saw his mark glowing bright, they ran towards him. 'Not good,' he thought to himself as they drew closer, he jumped up to a pipe then climbed a ladder up to the surface again.  
  
~*~  
  
Mingna didn't stop; she kept running for dear life. They guards hadn't even found her yet but she was too scared to stop let alone fight. The guards easily heard her running and several jumped out of windows at her. She screamed as they number of guards grew larger and they formed a circle around her.  
  
~*~  
  
Neokogine continued down the alley, actually enjoying the chase, she glanced back at the guards out of the corner of her eye and smirked, seeing them tier quickly. But her smirk quickly died and she grit her teeth in pain, feeling a sudden shock on her spirit sign as it began to glow blue. She shook her head, dismissing the pain and suddenly decided to have some fun. She sneered and stopped, turning to face the guards who were still chasing after her. They looked dumbfound at her, wondering why she didn't run, but still charged towards her. With a smirk Neokogine took out her sword, held it at her side, and held out her hand to the guards, daring them to come closer.  
  
~*~  
  
While this was going on Garnox had heard Mingna's cry and looked in that direction. He was far ahead of the guards chasing after him and thought of nothing but helping Mingna, though he wasn't sure why. Something inside seemed to be tugging at him. He jumped onto a few trashcans then ran along them towards her. After climbing over a fence he ran in front of her, ready to protect her from anyone. Mingna looked up at him, she had been sitting in a corner, hugging her knees, and crying. She blushed a bit, hating to be found in this state, epically by Garnox. Garnox didn't notice this, he was blocking blows the guards kept throwing at him but didn't want to kill them, his spirit sign was still shining brightly.  
  
~*~  
  
The guards charged at Neokogine, who just smirked and jumped up out of their reach and landed behind them. Before they knew what was happening, she had turned and sliced away with her sword, smirking the whole time. The air was filled with blood as she continued, not wasting any time killing them all. Her sword turned dark for a brief moment then quickly changed back, she shot it a look then glanced back over her shoulder at the dead guards and the alley full of blood. A few more guards turned down to the alley and saw her then all the dead bodies, slowly they backed away. Neokogine stood in the center of the alley and closed her eyes, then quietly said, "I don't think so." With that her eyes shot open, somewhat darker than before. She jumped swiftly up to the fire escape and ran along the edge to the end of the alley, where she jumped down in front of the guards, landing upright.  
  
~*~  
  
Garnox continued blocking the blows with ease, at least until the number of guards got larger. He grew tired and weaker with each defend and realized they had to get out of there. Quickly he pulled Mingna to her feet and pushed her up the fire escape, following after her. Some of the guards followed them but wouldn't for long. As soon as the 2 had made it to the top of the fire escape Garnox kicked the ladder the guards were following them up on, making it and the guards fall to the streets bellow. "C'mon," Garnox said as he continued along the ledge.  
  
~*~  
  
Neokogine sneered at the cowering guards that slowly backed away from her. She casually walked closer to them, not wanting anything else at the time but to fight. "What's wrong boys? Scared?" she said sneering a bit wider. Before they could answer she had throw her sword at them and the air was filled with crimson again as they fell to the ground. With a slight look of satisfaction Neokogine walked over and pulled her sword out of them, their eyes staring blankly up at the darkening sky.  
  
Garnox saw Neokogine and then all the dead guards scattered around the alley, "What did you do?!" he asked shocked that Neokogine would actually do such a thing.  
  
She smirked a bit then looked up at him, Mingna had appeared behind him and clasped her hands over her mouth, letting a little squeak escape. "Only what should have been," Neokogine said, kicking one of the lifeless guards over.  
  
He glared at her, "How could you?! They probably weren't even gonna kill us." Neokogine closed her eyes and smirked, "Probably isn't the same as weren't. We can't take any chances while we poses the spirits," she looked up at the moon above, "Even if it means the cost of lives."  
  
Mingna looked down at her, shocked to know that that was the way her real friend truly was. Garnox couldn't believe what he was hearing but realized she did have a point. The guards defiantly weren't chasing them to play poker, they were after something much more valuable, the spirits. "Whatever," he said shaking his head, trying to not think about all the other lives Neokogine would slay if that was her point of view. Though Mingna was still a bit shaken, realizing her friend thought it that way; she nodded then sat down on the ledge, letting her legs dangle off.  
  
Neokogine glanced over at them, not really caring what they thought of her, let alone what she thought. She put her sword over her shoulder then started walking down the alley again. The black ghouls rose from the ground again and continued with their daily routine as if nothing had happened, paying no attention to the guards scattered everywhere. A few purple lights illuminated the dark streets and a mystic tune danced through the night air. Neokogine gave a short sigh then turned back to the others, knowing she couldn't leave them alone; from everything she knew about them they couldn't even find their way out of a paper bag.  
  
Garnox shot her another glance and noticed she looked somewhat darker than the way he had always seen her. Not darker in color, but in personality. It feels strange when you think you know a person and suddenly you realize their true colors.  
  
Neokogine leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. Without looking up at them, she said, "Put the past behind you. What's done is done and it can't be redone." They said nothing for a while, just shot each other a glance once and a while. Neokogine stood upright again and started back into the bustling town streets, not sure of what she was looking for. Mingna looked at Garnox questioningly, as if asking if they should follow or not. He jumped down from the fire escape and followed after Neokogine, Mingna followed his lead.  
  
They walked deeper and deeper into the crowded town. Halfway down another street there was some sort of old run-down hotel off to the side. Neokogine stopped when something about the place caught her eye. Above the falling off door were all seven-spirit signs. "Should we go in?" questioned Mingna. "As long as nobody finds out we should be fine. Why would anyone want our spirits anyway?" Neokogine said, still not really wanting to break into a conversation.  
  
Slowly she raised her hand to knock, but before she made a sound an old raspy voice said, "Enter." Garnox and Mingna exchanged a look of worry but Neokogine just gripped the broken doorknob and pusher the door open. There was nothing but darkness inside; you could barely see 3 inches in front of your face. Neokogine stepped through the doorway and the darkness thickened. Mingna grabbed onto Garnox's hand and was shaking slightly, worried about what lie ahead. He stepped thought the doorway, hesitating slightly, and Mingna followed at his heels. Once they were all inside the door slammed shut, and Garnox screamed like a sissy again. Neokogine lit her sword, casting a flash of light through the room and examined its properties. The room had nothing but an old and ragged armchair, pushed off into the far corner. "Who called us?" Mingna said shouting in the direction of the chair, still shaking a bit and holding Garnox's hand tightly.  
  
"There is no need for yelling," the voice said from the chair, sounding a bit raspier than before. Slowly the chair turned, revealing the speaker. It was a short elderly woman who obviously did not get enough sleep because she had wrinkles and black rings under her eyes. Also she was extremely short, about up to Garnox's waist. "I have been waiting for the spirits to arrive," she said with a small sneer, which made all the wrinkles on her face grow, if possible, larger than before. Neokogine braced herself to fight; she was really not in the mood for a fight but refused to turn down a challenge. Garnox would have done the same but Mingna was clinging to him tightly with fear, whimpering slightly. The old hag closed her eyes and calmly added, "So you all are the spirit users, eh? Yes I see why you were chosen. You each have different personalities, and when you all come together you have an unstoppable force. But apart. you will perish.  
  
Neokogine glared at the old hag thinking, 'I can take care of myself. Those others are nothing more than a waste of data.' She shook her head, erasing the thought, and then asked, "How do we know we can trust you?" The hag must've known this was coming because without thinking she said, "Because I know everything about all of you," She smirked and continued, "You are Neokogine a.k.a Amanda Cyr, 15-years-old, allergic to peanuts, 7th grade, grade point average 3.75, homeroom teacher Mrs. Cass, fell asleep in Science class 4 times to date, started last years food fight, and you have an annoying habit of being too curious."  
  
"How did you know all that?" Neokogine demanded, a little creped out by everything this old bag knew. The woman stayed calm, "Possibly its because I am Mrs. Cass." Mingna squeezed Garnox so tightly at this that it made his tongue pop out. The hag gave a short sigh then continued, "When you first enter this game you are transformed into what you are thinking of. Only the person who has a soul of light is the can attain light spirit, same for all the others. Sadly I was thinking about my grandma at the time. DON'T YOU DARE UTTER A WORD OF THIS TO ANYONE AT SCHOOL!!!!" One thing that made the hag Mrs. Cass was that they both were hyperactive.  
  
Finally she settled down a bit, "Well, where are the other spirits?" She just didn't have a clue did she? "We haven't found them yet," Garnox blurted out. Mrs. Cass's eye started to twitch and she grit her teeth with furry. Before Mrs. Cass could start shouting R ratter dialogue Mingna added, "We just started playing and met each other today, and that was by luck."  
  
Jungian closed her eyes and began to think. After a long silence she said, "Nothing is by luck, it is all by destiny." Typical, even out of school Mrs. Cass made no sense.  
  
"Now I have done a thorough search of this town and there are no spirits here. But I've heard a rumor that there was one spotted in Jahronar Veta; it's a nearby town to the north. Be careful the king has probably sent the azul guards there already. Remember, your hearts contain your spirit to stop all; you just have to find out how to unleash it. Together you are undefeatable. separated. you are vulnerable to death," she solemnly said.  
  
Slowly her chair turned back to the wall. "You may leave now," she said waving her hand. Mrs. Cass was too stubborn to get more info out of, so they left more confused than before. Neokogine glared at her for a moment longer then turned and left the old shack, the others followed; thought not nearly as angry.  
  
It was extremely brighter outside than in the hut so it took a minute to take in their surroundings. Garnox was evidently tired because he was barely able to say, "Well she said, um, nearby town, to north, cheese." He leaned against an old wooden barrel, head drooping to one side. Mingna sat on a box, while Neokogine leaned on a wall and stuffed her hands deep into her pockets, where she clenched them into fists. 'What else does that hag know that she wasn't telling us?' she thought to herself, not really paying attention to her surroundings. | |  
  
"Freeze," several voices shouted at them. Neokogine snapped back to reality and whirled around, and braced herself to fight. Mingna, who was hugging her knees, gave a little shriek then looked at whoever said that. Garnox wasn't tired anymore, because when he saw the thousands of guards surrounding them it was if he just had 13 cups of mocha latte. The guards glared at them, looking more vengeful than ever.  
  
"Out of my way, move it, move it," the lizard guarding the gate shouted as her pushed his way through the guards and smiled. "I told you the spirit users were here. They thought they could fool me. Nobody can fool the great Kredlin."  
  
Neokogine glared at him and swung her sword at his face, just as she had planed, her sword left a small scar straight down his face. "Apparently we at the gates. Now get lost or die," she said angrily raising her sword, not afraid to kill more guards. Mingna and Garnox looked at each other then followed her lead and grabbed their weapons, though they didn't want to actually kill.  
  
The coward lizard hid behind one of the guards and clasped his hands over the scar on his face. "The king wants to see you. Guards get them!" he shouted and the guards sped towards them. They were strong and fast but Neokogine figured she could easily out match them.  
  
Garnox spun his sword around and killed four of them. These competitors were nothing like the dinosaur Neokogine had killed earlier; these were real players. But these guys wanted to kill them so it was fair.  
  
Mingna got one of the guards to chase after her. He was close behind her but she ran directly towards another guard. Just as both of the guards raised their swords to kill her she dropped to the ground and slid between the guard's legs; making the two guards stab each other. What a way to go.  
  
They had surrounded Neokogine, clearly knowing that she was the biggest threat from her attack earlier. She was doing her best to kill them off, but every time she killed one more came over. She quickly thought about what the hag had said, 'your heart contains a spirit to stop all, and you just have to find out how to unleash them.'  
  
Something inside her unlocked, and she knew exactly what to do. Suddenly Neokogine began to glow a faint blue, she tossed her sword up, caught it, and shouted, "LIGHT SHINING KINDEL!" A blinding light emerged from the sword, filling the area. Ear-piercing screams were heard, a familiar one included.  
  
Finally the light died away and the only living people in the alley were Garnox, Mingna, and Neokogine. Neokogine had used almost all of her energy to unleash that attack, but it was worth it. The lizard and all the guards were lying face down dead. She was sitting slouched up against the wall breathing deeply.  
  
Mingna and Garnox helped her to her feet, but she swayed unevenly so she used her sword for balance. Yep, in this game you can get hurt. They were all cut in areas but the victory felt good.  
  
"We need to rest," Neokogine said weekly. "Is there any safe place though?" Mingna quietly asked, nobody specific. She had gotten a small slash on her leg and there was some blood dripping down it. Garnox leaned against the barrel once again, "Geeze you'd think that Mrs. Cass would of at least told us where we could rest." Mingna beamed with happiness, "Garnox you're a genius!" They hurried as fast as they could back to where Mrs. Cass's shack once stood. Now all that was there were bits of rubble and junk. "Damn! That attack you used destroyed her house. Know where are we supposed to go?" Garnox shouted at Neokogine, he was clearly mad. Mingna glared at him, her eyes glossy with unshed tears, "Forget where we're going to stay you dumb moron! What about Jungian!?"  
  
They began digging through the rubble. Mingna worked quickly and quietly, a few tears escaping her eyes every once and a while. Garnox looked extremely worried as he helped move aside junk. But Neokogine kept a solemn face; she didn't see the point of being worried while there was work to do. The sun was completely gone and they still hadn't found a trace of her. 'Something tells me we're going to have a substitute after summer holidays,' Neokogine though as she kicked over the last piece of un-searched area. She never meant to kill Mrs. Cass, thought she did hate her; the attack was the only way to defeat the azul guards, who wanted to kill them.  
  
The first to face the fact was Neokogine. She told the others to stop the pointless search, as it was just a waste of time. Mingna felt like crying, Mrs. Cass was her favorite teacher. "We have to get to Jahronar Veta, we should find another spirit there," Neokogine said as if nothing had ever happened, looking in the direction of the town.  
  
Mingna glared up at her, eyes still glossy with tears. She wasn't going to take it anymore and shouted, "What's wrong with you?! You were never like this in real life! You think you're so tough because you aren't afraid to kill or you can unleash your spirit! That doesn't mean you can tell us what to do!" Neokogine shot her attention down at her, she was quite taken aback; Mingna had never stood up to her before. Mingna sat down and hugged her knees hoping Neokogine wasn't mad at her?  
  
Garnox was about to go talk to her but Neokogine held him back, this was her doing and she had to fix it. Sluggishly she went over and sat beside Mingna. She took a deep sigh; she wasn't use to apologizing, but said, "Listen Mingna, you never knew me outside of school. In there they have rules but this is the real me. I never meant to kill Mrs. Cass. But, what's done is done, and it can't be redone." Mingna looked at her and felt a little better.  
  
Neokogine stood up and looked directly at Mingna with a blank face, then held her hand down to help her up. Mingna felt better knowing her friend wasn't mad at her. She took her hand and Neokogine pulled her to her feet.  
  
After a few seconds of silence Neokogine turned and started back to the main gate, where thankfully they didn't have to worry about Kredlin anymore. Garnox and Mingna followed closely, not wanting to be seen by any more guards. Once outside the gate Mingna went to the nearest tree and grabbed a couple of oranges. The apples they had been carrying had gone bad and had to be tossed. The moss on the tree pointed them in the direction of the town.  
  
It was getting late, really late. Neokogine's parents were probably home by now but there was no place to stop. If they stopped in any old place the azul guards could find them and do who knows what. Neokogine had to rest; though she didn't show it she was still weak from unleashing her spirit. She didn't like to show weakness if you did you would be taken advantage of. One of the guards had got a good hit on her left arm and it sort of hurt to move it.  
  
A half an hour later they found an old animal lair. It was very small and smelt funny; but it was hidden and way off the trail. There was just enough room for the three to stretch out so they lay down, saved, and went home.  
  
(well that's it for this chapter. I promise to have the next one up within a week.) 


End file.
